When the Superman: Escape from Krypton roller coaster opened at Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia, California, in 1997, it was the tallest ride in the world and one of the fastest. The coaster can shoot a 6-ton car carrying 15 people up a vertical tower 415 feet tall at 100 miles per hour. The Escape was the first ride in the world powered by an electric linear motor system, developed by engineers at GE’s Power Conversion business.
The engineers have now tested the latest version of the technology. Instead of fun ride cars, it can power an electric catapult that could fling fighter jets weighing as much as 37 tons (like a fully loaded F-35 Joint Strike Fighter) off the deck of an aircraft carrier at takeoff speed. The catapult can quickly accelerate to speeds in excess of 186 miles per hour and generate gravitational forces of 3.3g. For shorter launches the technology can reach as much as 12g. “In terms of force, this is probably the most powerful linear motor ever built,” says Mark Dannatt, director of naval business at GE Power Conversion.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/superman.gif"]
It's Bird, It's a Plane: The technology behind the new catapult started like a motor for Superman fun ride.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/EMCAT.gif"]
A GE Power Conversion's catapult at the Bruntingthorpe test site in Leicestershire, England.
[/image]
[/slides]
The new electromagnetic catapult could replace steam catapults still used by even the latest American aircraft carriers. Steam-powered launch has a number of drawbacks. “It’s basically a tube with a piston inside,” Dannatt says. “You get a tremendous jolt at the start of the launch when you open the valve and let the steam out at full pressure. This does not do the aircraft or the pilot any good.” Worse, as the jet goes down the track, the steam leaks out and the pressure gradually dies away. “It’s a bit like a balloon going down,” Dannatt says.
But the electromagnetic catapult, the technical name for the technology is medium-voltage advanced linear induction machine, starts slow like a theme park ride and attains maximum speed at launch. “This is what you want,” Dannatt says. “The wear on the airframe is less.”
Access to power is not a problem. Many ships are switching to electric propulsion (Dannatt’s business has built power and propulsion systems for the UK’s aircraft carriers as well as the U.S. Navy’ first hybrid and all electric vessels). The new catapult could easily tap into that electricity.
The effect on the ship would be negligible, even though the catapult is providing most of the energy during the plane launch. (The jet's engines contribute only a small amount.) “Although the amount of launch energy you need is high, the power that you need to charge the catapult is very small compared to the propulsion system,” Dannatt says.
The new catapult is essentially a common rotary induction motor that GE engineers cut open. They arranged the motor's internal coils along a track several meters long. An automatic control system jogs electricity forward through the coils, and generates a moving electromagnetic field. A heavy steel the plate rides on the field along the track, kind of like a maglev train, and pulls the jet during takeoff. “There is an air gap between the plate and the track,” Dannatt says. “There are no bits wearing down. It’s much better for maintenance.”
Besides aircraft carriers and roller coasters, the technology could also power car parts, cars, and other vehicles during acceleration crash tests. It could also launch large unmanned aircraft from locations that were previously not feasible. Says Dannatt: “It’s a solution looking for a problem.”
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
It’s a Small World: GE, Google Maps to Draw a Roadmap for a Better Power Grid
Last month, yet another massive storm gathered over the Northeast, dumped several feet of snow from Connecticut to Maine, and plunged thousands of locals into freezing darkness. Although we can’t yet engineer weather, we can use software engineering to soften its blows.
Internet companies like Google have long known that the value of their networks grows in proportion to the number of their users. This is called Metcalfe’s law. The same logic applies to industrial networks like power grids. The combination of the Internet and infrastructure could now yield billions in savings for utilities and better service for their customers.
Last week GE, which knows a lot about infrastructure, announced that it would feed data from Google Maps to a suite of GE software applications designed to manage power grids, water systems, gas pipelines, telecoms and other industrial networks. The apps suite, called Smallworld, helps customers visualize their network assets, detect vulnerable spots, and cut response times when storms like Nemo strike.
The power grid is a good example of how Smallworld works. GE says that apps tap Google’s rich mapping data environment (Google Maps has 1 billion monthly users), and help utility maintenance teams pinpoint and fix problems before they escalate, and respond to and repair outages faster. GE’s intelligent power management systems like Grid IQ Insight already gather data from smart meters in homes, sensors in transformers, a NASA satellite, and even Twitter to predict and prevent power outages. The Google-powered Smallworld world will provide extra context.
Ordinary consumers can benefit too. Bryan Friehauf, a software products leader from GE Digital Energy, told Wired that utilities could color code outage maps based on estimated repair times and share them with the public. “You’ll know whether to sit tight, or to start looking for a hotel to spend the night,” Friehauf told the magazine.
GE estimates that Industrial Internet tools like Grid IQ and Smallworld could save customers tens of billions by improving performance of their assets by just 1 percent. The Industrial Internet is a global network connecting people, machines, and data.GE is investing $1 billion in Industrial Internet applications.
The beauty of Smallworld is that the apps work with existing network hardware. “Utilities do not need to purchase dedicated equipment to implement the software,” Friehauf says. Field operators can pull up Smallworld on their smartphones. GE will use Google’s Android platform to power the apps.
Smallworld matters for another reason. The global demand for electricity may grow by as much as 70 percent by 2035, yet few countries are ready to spend many billions of dollars to upgrade their infrastructure. This means that the grid must get more efficient to cope. The Industrial Internet and tools like Grid IQ and Smallworld are helping today’s technology to deal with tomorrow’s demands.
Internet companies like Google have long known that the value of their networks grows in proportion to the number of their users. This is called Metcalfe’s law. The same logic applies to industrial networks like power grids. The combination of the Internet and infrastructure could now yield billions in savings for utilities and better service for their customers.
Last week GE, which knows a lot about infrastructure, announced that it would feed data from Google Maps to a suite of GE software applications designed to manage power grids, water systems, gas pipelines, telecoms and other industrial networks. The apps suite, called Smallworld, helps customers visualize their network assets, detect vulnerable spots, and cut response times when storms like Nemo strike.
#IndustrialInternet: This screenshot from Smallworld shows an underground medium voltage cable (blue line), meters in homes, a substation, and other connected hardware.
The power grid is a good example of how Smallworld works. GE says that apps tap Google’s rich mapping data environment (Google Maps has 1 billion monthly users), and help utility maintenance teams pinpoint and fix problems before they escalate, and respond to and repair outages faster. GE’s intelligent power management systems like Grid IQ Insight already gather data from smart meters in homes, sensors in transformers, a NASA satellite, and even Twitter to predict and prevent power outages. The Google-powered Smallworld world will provide extra context.
Ordinary consumers can benefit too. Bryan Friehauf, a software products leader from GE Digital Energy, told Wired that utilities could color code outage maps based on estimated repair times and share them with the public. “You’ll know whether to sit tight, or to start looking for a hotel to spend the night,” Friehauf told the magazine.
GE estimates that Industrial Internet tools like Grid IQ and Smallworld could save customers tens of billions by improving performance of their assets by just 1 percent. The Industrial Internet is a global network connecting people, machines, and data.GE is investing $1 billion in Industrial Internet applications.
The beauty of Smallworld is that the apps work with existing network hardware. “Utilities do not need to purchase dedicated equipment to implement the software,” Friehauf says. Field operators can pull up Smallworld on their smartphones. GE will use Google’s Android platform to power the apps.
Smallworld matters for another reason. The global demand for electricity may grow by as much as 70 percent by 2035, yet few countries are ready to spend many billions of dollars to upgrade their infrastructure. This means that the grid must get more efficient to cope. The Industrial Internet and tools like Grid IQ and Smallworld are helping today’s technology to deal with tomorrow’s demands.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Family Matters: GE Technology Helps Healthcare Providers in Africa
The rural health clinic in Kimalamisale, Tanzania, sits at the end of a rutted sandy road some 160 miles from the nearest large town of Kisarawe. Although the brightly colored concrete structure serves thousands of villagers living in the surrounding savannah, it has no electricity and its main healthcare equipment includes a stethoscope, weighing scales, and a blood pressure machine.
Things changed last spring, when a trained nurse arrived with Vscan, a pocket-size ultrasound machine manufactured by GE. Her visit was part of a research study designed to test technological innovations that will help speed up governmental efforts to meet Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in Africa. The study was developed by Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute in partnership with GE’s healthymagination campaign.
In Tanzania, hemorrhage, obstructed labor, sepsis and other pregnancy complications cause 454 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. That’s more than three times above a U.N. Millennium Development Goal of 133 deaths by 2015.
Ifakara trained a total of 14 nurse midwives in ultrasound scanning. They fanned out across the Kisarawe district, population 230,000 of which 28 percent are women of reproductive age, to five rural clinics like the one in Kimalamisale, a health center, and a district hospital. “Newborn and maternal health is the most critical health issue in Africa, ahead of malaria or AIDS,” says Janeen Uzzell, Director of Healthcare Programs for healthymagination in Africa. “We want to show that GE is committed to the lives of mothers and babies in Africa.”
Similar studies had been done in rural Bangladesh and Indonesia, but Africa presented additional challenges. The rural clinics in Tanzania rely on solar panels for electricity, lack telephone service, and suffer from bad roads and no ambulances. But using a process called “reverse innovation,” the team was able to power Vscan by solar panels and let professionals use in the village after just 10 days of training. “In Africa, what the product actually enables is what matters the most,” says Uzzell.
The program used local doctors to train nurses who had not used ultrasound before. It includes rigorous quality control “to make sure that the nurses are doing what we want them to do,” says Kallol Mukherji, GE Program Manager in Tanzania.
Mukherji, who helped run similar projects in Asia, says that he was initially surprised when the women in Tanzania showed no emotional reaction to the images on the ultrasound screen. “They thought that we uploaded the picture beforehand,” he says. “They did not believe that you could actually see your baby before it’s born through a device.”
That may soon change. The Vscan is already helping healthcare professionals in Ethiopia, and Ghana recently signed an order to purchase 400 of the machines. Uzzell is now working with Nigeria’s Ministry of Health’s Saving One Million Lives initiative to reduce neonatal mortality in the country’s northern region. “We don’t just have a product,” Uzzell says. “We have a visualization tool that can help change maternal and newborn health in Africa.”
Things changed last spring, when a trained nurse arrived with Vscan, a pocket-size ultrasound machine manufactured by GE. Her visit was part of a research study designed to test technological innovations that will help speed up governmental efforts to meet Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in Africa. The study was developed by Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute in partnership with GE’s healthymagination campaign.
In Tanzania, hemorrhage, obstructed labor, sepsis and other pregnancy complications cause 454 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. That’s more than three times above a U.N. Millennium Development Goal of 133 deaths by 2015.
Women in rural Tanzania first showed no emotional reaction to ultrasound images of their babies on VScan. They thought that nurses uploaded the pictures beforehand.
Ifakara trained a total of 14 nurse midwives in ultrasound scanning. They fanned out across the Kisarawe district, population 230,000 of which 28 percent are women of reproductive age, to five rural clinics like the one in Kimalamisale, a health center, and a district hospital. “Newborn and maternal health is the most critical health issue in Africa, ahead of malaria or AIDS,” says Janeen Uzzell, Director of Healthcare Programs for healthymagination in Africa. “We want to show that GE is committed to the lives of mothers and babies in Africa.”
Similar studies had been done in rural Bangladesh and Indonesia, but Africa presented additional challenges. The rural clinics in Tanzania rely on solar panels for electricity, lack telephone service, and suffer from bad roads and no ambulances. But using a process called “reverse innovation,” the team was able to power Vscan by solar panels and let professionals use in the village after just 10 days of training. “In Africa, what the product actually enables is what matters the most,” says Uzzell.
The program used local doctors to train nurses who had not used ultrasound before. It includes rigorous quality control “to make sure that the nurses are doing what we want them to do,” says Kallol Mukherji, GE Program Manager in Tanzania.
Mukherji, who helped run similar projects in Asia, says that he was initially surprised when the women in Tanzania showed no emotional reaction to the images on the ultrasound screen. “They thought that we uploaded the picture beforehand,” he says. “They did not believe that you could actually see your baby before it’s born through a device.”
That may soon change. The Vscan is already helping healthcare professionals in Ethiopia, and Ghana recently signed an order to purchase 400 of the machines. Uzzell is now working with Nigeria’s Ministry of Health’s Saving One Million Lives initiative to reduce neonatal mortality in the country’s northern region. “We don’t just have a product,” Uzzell says. “We have a visualization tool that can help change maternal and newborn health in Africa.”
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
It’s a Wrap: GE, NBC Part Ways, Together They’ve Changed History
The sale of GE’s remaining stake in NBC Universal (NBCU) to Comcast today caps a historic, century-long journey for the two companies that gave birth to modern home entertainment. Together they've built the first TV and radio sets, pioneered commercial broadcasting, and launched the consumer electronics industry.
GE co-founded NBC’s former parent, RCA, in 1919, and pushed to commercialize radio broadcasting, then as new as the Internet not so long ago. “Prior to 1920, most Americans couldn’t even fathom the idea of voices and music coming into their homes over the air,” according to RCA history. “But the availability of free over-the-air music and information fueled tremendous growth, with sales of in-home radio sets growing from 5,000 units in 1920 to more than 2.5 million units in 1924.” At the time, GE was using the RCA brand for its radios.
RCA launched NBC in 1926, and in 1928 started the first regularly scheduled U.S. television programming in Schenectady, New York, then the site of GE headquarters. The station aired two-hour broadcasts on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, to the homes of GE engineer and radio and TV pioneer Ernst Alexanderson and two GE board members.
GE sold its stake in RCA in 1932, but two companies reunited in 1986. By then, RCA had built NBC into a large domestic broadcast network. With GE at the helm, NBC added a string of big TV hits branded as “Must See TV.” They included series like Friends, Seinfeld, ER, Frasier, West Wing, and Will & Grace. In sports, the network broadcast seven consecutive Summer Olympics, starting with the 1988 games in Seoul, and NBA games during the great run of Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls. The combination delivered what was for many years the most profitable line-up on television.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap12.jpg"]
GE engineer Edward St. Louis in one of the earliest television screenshots.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap10.jpg"]
A New Era of Entertainment: An ad for the world's first TV showing in a Schenectady theater.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap9.jpg"]
The first Teleopticon TV set had a tiny screen just a few inches across.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap7.jpg"]
GE engineer and radio and TV pioneer Ernst Alexanderson is watching television at home with his family in 1928.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap1.jpg"]
Early GE radios carried the RCA brand.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap2.jpg"]
Inside a GE radio factory. Sales of home radio sets grew from 5,000 units in 1920 to more than 2.5 million units in 1924.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap3.jpg"]
Inside a GE radio factory. Sales of home radio sets grew from 5,000 units in 1920 to more than 2.5 million units in 1924.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap4.jpg"]
The dawn of a new entertainment era.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap5.jpg"]
Early GE radios carried the RCA brand.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap6.jpg"]
Before Law & Order: Launched in 1928, The Queen’s Messenger was the first TV drama.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap8.jpg"]
Before Law & Order: Launched in 1928, The Queen’s Messenger was the first TV drama.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap11.jpg"]
Alfred E. Smith's acceptance of the Democratic nomination for President in August 1928 was the first remote TV news broadcast.
[/image]
[/slides]
Image Credit: Museum of Innovation and Science
In 2003 GE bought Vivendi's entertainment assets, and the investment gave NBCU access to global movie franchises. In 2012, Universal Pictures had its best worldwide box office year in the studio’s 100-year history, with global theatrical grosses of more than $3 billion and seven movies that crossed the $200 million mark worldwide, more than any other studio.
Starting in 2006, NBCU bulked up its sports lineup with the launch of “Sunday Night Football,” and the 2009 and 2012 Super Bowls. The programming, combined with the highly successful London Olympics, helped NBC to become a leader in TV sports.
In 2009, GE sold majority ownership of NBCU to Comcast for $8 billion in cash and reduced its share from 80 percent to 49 percent.
“This is the right time to for us to accelerate our investment in our core businesses, and it’s the right strategy for our investors,” said Jeff Immelt, GE chairman and CEO. “Moving forward with this transaction makes me even more excited about what we can achieve in 2013.”
Said Immelt: “I want to wish the very best to all of our friends at NBCU, and thank them for their great work with GE over the years. I look forward to following their continued success.”
GE co-founded NBC’s former parent, RCA, in 1919, and pushed to commercialize radio broadcasting, then as new as the Internet not so long ago. “Prior to 1920, most Americans couldn’t even fathom the idea of voices and music coming into their homes over the air,” according to RCA history. “But the availability of free over-the-air music and information fueled tremendous growth, with sales of in-home radio sets growing from 5,000 units in 1920 to more than 2.5 million units in 1924.” At the time, GE was using the RCA brand for its radios.
RCA launched NBC in 1926, and in 1928 started the first regularly scheduled U.S. television programming in Schenectady, New York, then the site of GE headquarters. The station aired two-hour broadcasts on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, to the homes of GE engineer and radio and TV pioneer Ernst Alexanderson and two GE board members.
GE sold its stake in RCA in 1932, but two companies reunited in 1986. By then, RCA had built NBC into a large domestic broadcast network. With GE at the helm, NBC added a string of big TV hits branded as “Must See TV.” They included series like Friends, Seinfeld, ER, Frasier, West Wing, and Will & Grace. In sports, the network broadcast seven consecutive Summer Olympics, starting with the 1988 games in Seoul, and NBA games during the great run of Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls. The combination delivered what was for many years the most profitable line-up on television.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap12.jpg"]
GE engineer Edward St. Louis in one of the earliest television screenshots.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap10.jpg"]
A New Era of Entertainment: An ad for the world's first TV showing in a Schenectady theater.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap9.jpg"]
The first Teleopticon TV set had a tiny screen just a few inches across.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap7.jpg"]
GE engineer and radio and TV pioneer Ernst Alexanderson is watching television at home with his family in 1928.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap1.jpg"]
Early GE radios carried the RCA brand.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap2.jpg"]
Inside a GE radio factory. Sales of home radio sets grew from 5,000 units in 1920 to more than 2.5 million units in 1924.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap3.jpg"]
Inside a GE radio factory. Sales of home radio sets grew from 5,000 units in 1920 to more than 2.5 million units in 1924.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap4.jpg"]
The dawn of a new entertainment era.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap5.jpg"]
Early GE radios carried the RCA brand.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap6.jpg"]
Before Law & Order: Launched in 1928, The Queen’s Messenger was the first TV drama.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap8.jpg"]
Before Law & Order: Launched in 1928, The Queen’s Messenger was the first TV drama.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ItsAWrap11.jpg"]
Alfred E. Smith's acceptance of the Democratic nomination for President in August 1928 was the first remote TV news broadcast.
[/image]
[/slides]
Image Credit: Museum of Innovation and Science
In 2003 GE bought Vivendi's entertainment assets, and the investment gave NBCU access to global movie franchises. In 2012, Universal Pictures had its best worldwide box office year in the studio’s 100-year history, with global theatrical grosses of more than $3 billion and seven movies that crossed the $200 million mark worldwide, more than any other studio.
Starting in 2006, NBCU bulked up its sports lineup with the launch of “Sunday Night Football,” and the 2009 and 2012 Super Bowls. The programming, combined with the highly successful London Olympics, helped NBC to become a leader in TV sports.
In 2009, GE sold majority ownership of NBCU to Comcast for $8 billion in cash and reduced its share from 80 percent to 49 percent.
“This is the right time to for us to accelerate our investment in our core businesses, and it’s the right strategy for our investors,” said Jeff Immelt, GE chairman and CEO. “Moving forward with this transaction makes me even more excited about what we can achieve in 2013.”
Said Immelt: “I want to wish the very best to all of our friends at NBCU, and thank them for their great work with GE over the years. I look forward to following their continued success.”
Wired: The Science of Star Wars Explained by GE Engineers
Ever sought revenge on your siblings by freezing them, a la Han Solo, in carbonite? The engineers behind GE’s Brilliant Machines want to help. GE scientists, in partnership with Wired, have probed the science of Star Wars in a new feature called Sci-Fi Demystified. Learn about everything from the viability of freezing a live person in carbon (brain function probably wouldn’t recover upon thawing), or hand held laser blasters (the energy required to inflict damage would make them too heavy to move). See the rest at Wired.
Sci-Fi Desmystified: The scientists behind GE's #BrilliantMachines dig into Star Wars science at Wired.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
The Wisdom of the Crowd: Edison’s Birthday Marks National Inventors’ Day
Steve Wozniak, who built the first Apple computer, has this advice for inventors: “You are going to be best able to design revolutionary products if you are working on your own,” he writes in his memoir iWoz. “Not on a committee. Not on a team.”
GE engineer Peter de Bock begs to differ. “Innovation is about talking to people, connecting with people,” de Bock says. “It’s about knowing what’s out there, what’s needed.” Recently, De Bock applied his method to build an ingenious cooling device that could launch a new generation of thinner, quieter, and more powerful laptops and tablets like Apple’s iPad.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay1.jpg"]
Peter de Bock helped design a cooling device that could lead to superthin laptops and tablets.
The limits of the human mind know no boundary. All the inventors in our slideshow had a creative vision and went for it. Celebrate Inventor's Day with GE on February 11th. Tweet what you want to invent using #IWantToInvent! The sky's the limit.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay2.jpg"]
Nick Holonyak Jr. built the world's first LED.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay3.jpg"]
Manoj Shah built a better electric motor.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay4.jpg"]
The Hush-Hush Boys built the first American jet engine.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay5.jpg"]
The Slide Rule Sisters helped build the first supersonic jet engine.
[/image]
[/slides]
Talking to other engineers at GE Global Research where he works, De Bock learned that one of his colleagues built a new thin apparatus for cooling jet engines. The device did not have any bearings, fans, or electric motors, the parts that can break and cause problems. Instead, it used a vibrating sliver of special ceramic material attached to two metal plates. The ceramic expands and contracts as electrical power flows through, making the nickel plates work like a pair of lungs. (Engineers call this effect “piezoelectricity.”)
The device got him thinking. "There is a very clear trend. Consumer electronics are not getting faster anymore, they are getting thinner,” he says. “There is a need for a new system that can provide airflow in a very thin space. The tablets of the future will have a system like this built in." De Bock reworked the design and shrunk the height of the device to just 3 millimeters, the size of two stacked quarters, and half the size of comparable cooling fans. The device, which De Bock calls “dual piezoelectric cooling jets,” could add as much as 30 minutes of extra battery life to laptops. "We bring a lot of people to our lab, listen and learn about technology in new ways," De Bock explains. “Innovation is about knowing the field, knowing what’s out there, what’s needed.”
De Bock’s lab is in Niskayuna, New York, a suburb of Schenectady where Thomas Edison opened the first GE research lab a century ago. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed, February 11, Edison’s birthday, as National Inventors’ Day. “Key to our future success will be the dedication and creativity of inventors,” Reagan said.
De Bock, and hundreds of other GE inventors like him, are nothing if not dedicated and creative. De Bock is a ten year veteran of the GRC. He first came there as an intern from the University of Twente in his native Holland, where he studied mechanical engineering. “I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the culture of the research center,” he says. At the time he worked on huge 140-megawatt power generators for GE Power & Water, the engineering opposite of his cooling device. “I’ve done everything,” he laughs. “When it was time for me to graduate, I applied for a job.”
GE research labs now employ 3,000 people around the world, including 1,125 PhDs. Besides Niskayuna, GE has labs also in San Ramon, California, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Bangalore, and Munich. De Bock and his colleagues are tackling a long list problems, from new materials for jet engines and gas turbines to molecular diagnostics, better batteries, and software analytics for turbines and oil & gas rigs that crunch data coming over the Industrial Internet. GE spends annually $6 billion on R&D. Just in 2011, GE researchers received more than 3,600 patents. All this innovation is helping to create new jobs, and companies. GE’s newest business, GE Energy Storage, makes high-tech Durathon batteries in a new $170 million plant just outside Schenectady.
Over the years, two GE employees have received Nobel Prizes and three other Nobelists spent time working at the GRC. Their GE colleagues have built machines and devices that revolutionized how we live, from the first U.S. jet engine and the first full-body MRI machine, to the invention of the LED. Last year, De Bock’s friend and GRC colleague Manoj Shah received the prestigious Nikola Tesla Award for improving on the electric motor. Last week, three GE engineers were elected into the National Academy of Engineering.
Working so close to Edison’s legacy, Edison’s original desk is in the lobby of DeBock’s building, he has his own thoughts on innovation. “You have to be the biggest champion of the technology as well as its biggest critic,” he says. “Because only then you can see the shortcomings and try to work on those as you move the technology forward.”
GE engineer Peter de Bock begs to differ. “Innovation is about talking to people, connecting with people,” de Bock says. “It’s about knowing what’s out there, what’s needed.” Recently, De Bock applied his method to build an ingenious cooling device that could launch a new generation of thinner, quieter, and more powerful laptops and tablets like Apple’s iPad.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay1.jpg"]
Peter de Bock helped design a cooling device that could lead to superthin laptops and tablets.
The limits of the human mind know no boundary. All the inventors in our slideshow had a creative vision and went for it. Celebrate Inventor's Day with GE on February 11th. Tweet what you want to invent using #IWantToInvent! The sky's the limit.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay2.jpg"]
Nick Holonyak Jr. built the world's first LED.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay3.jpg"]
Manoj Shah built a better electric motor.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay4.jpg"]
The Hush-Hush Boys built the first American jet engine.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/InventorsDay5.jpg"]
The Slide Rule Sisters helped build the first supersonic jet engine.
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Talking to other engineers at GE Global Research where he works, De Bock learned that one of his colleagues built a new thin apparatus for cooling jet engines. The device did not have any bearings, fans, or electric motors, the parts that can break and cause problems. Instead, it used a vibrating sliver of special ceramic material attached to two metal plates. The ceramic expands and contracts as electrical power flows through, making the nickel plates work like a pair of lungs. (Engineers call this effect “piezoelectricity.”)
The device got him thinking. "There is a very clear trend. Consumer electronics are not getting faster anymore, they are getting thinner,” he says. “There is a need for a new system that can provide airflow in a very thin space. The tablets of the future will have a system like this built in." De Bock reworked the design and shrunk the height of the device to just 3 millimeters, the size of two stacked quarters, and half the size of comparable cooling fans. The device, which De Bock calls “dual piezoelectric cooling jets,” could add as much as 30 minutes of extra battery life to laptops. "We bring a lot of people to our lab, listen and learn about technology in new ways," De Bock explains. “Innovation is about knowing the field, knowing what’s out there, what’s needed.”
De Bock’s lab is in Niskayuna, New York, a suburb of Schenectady where Thomas Edison opened the first GE research lab a century ago. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed, February 11, Edison’s birthday, as National Inventors’ Day. “Key to our future success will be the dedication and creativity of inventors,” Reagan said.
De Bock, and hundreds of other GE inventors like him, are nothing if not dedicated and creative. De Bock is a ten year veteran of the GRC. He first came there as an intern from the University of Twente in his native Holland, where he studied mechanical engineering. “I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the culture of the research center,” he says. At the time he worked on huge 140-megawatt power generators for GE Power & Water, the engineering opposite of his cooling device. “I’ve done everything,” he laughs. “When it was time for me to graduate, I applied for a job.”
GE research labs now employ 3,000 people around the world, including 1,125 PhDs. Besides Niskayuna, GE has labs also in San Ramon, California, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Bangalore, and Munich. De Bock and his colleagues are tackling a long list problems, from new materials for jet engines and gas turbines to molecular diagnostics, better batteries, and software analytics for turbines and oil & gas rigs that crunch data coming over the Industrial Internet. GE spends annually $6 billion on R&D. Just in 2011, GE researchers received more than 3,600 patents. All this innovation is helping to create new jobs, and companies. GE’s newest business, GE Energy Storage, makes high-tech Durathon batteries in a new $170 million plant just outside Schenectady.
Over the years, two GE employees have received Nobel Prizes and three other Nobelists spent time working at the GRC. Their GE colleagues have built machines and devices that revolutionized how we live, from the first U.S. jet engine and the first full-body MRI machine, to the invention of the LED. Last year, De Bock’s friend and GRC colleague Manoj Shah received the prestigious Nikola Tesla Award for improving on the electric motor. Last week, three GE engineers were elected into the National Academy of Engineering.
Working so close to Edison’s legacy, Edison’s original desk is in the lobby of DeBock’s building, he has his own thoughts on innovation. “You have to be the biggest champion of the technology as well as its biggest critic,” he says. “Because only then you can see the shortcomings and try to work on those as you move the technology forward.”
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